DUP’s Sammy Wilson gives his take on the Good Friday Agreement and Brexit, gets absolutely destroyed

Paul Moore

That’s some burn.

During a recent discussion at the House of Commons Committee for Exiting the European Union in London, former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern provided some of his opinions on the current state of Anglo-Irish relations in the Brexit environment.

The former Fianna Fáil leader said that he has “no desire to see the backstop ever implemented” in the event of a no-deal Brexit, and that Britain’s decision to leave the EU will have a serious impact on the Good Friday Agreement.

Of course, during Ahern’s tenure as Taoiseach, he was one of the people who helped to negotiate the Belfast Agreement, more commonly known as the Good Friday Agreement.

In fact, the former Fianna Fáil leader – along with Tony Blair – was awarded the Thomas J. Dodd Prize in International Justice and Human Rights for his work on the Good Friday Agreement and his efforts to promote peace in Ireland.

As for Ahern’s most recent comments regarding Brexit and Anglo-Irish relations, he also offered his views on the backstop.

“It seems to me that in the transition period it must be possible to work out an arrangement and work out a way that means that the backstop isn’t necessary but that needs time and, as of now, all of the brain power said that this (the backstop) is what we should do,” he said.

Ahern was also dismissive of reports/suggestions that the Republic of Ireland should leave the European Union, or rejoin the UK.

“A lot of people have put a lot of time into developing a new relationship between the UK and Ireland and unfortunately we have an 800 year past of difficulties,” he said.

The DUPs Sammy Wilson was also in attendance during that particular meeting with Ahern and during the most recent gathering in the House of Commons, Wilson addressed Ahern’s remarks and went on the attack against Peter Grant, an MP for the SNP.

Wilson said: “Since he has cited the Belfast Agreement and he’s talking about it falling and smashing on the floor. Will he at least take the courtesy of reading the Belfast Agreement. There is no suggestion that in leaving – deal or no deal – that the institutions that are contained in the Belfast Agreement will be broken. There’s no suggestion that the ability for Northern Ireland’s citizens to have Irish citizenship will be taken away from them. So, at least if he’s going to make claims, get them right.”

At this point, Grant is given the floor to provide a rebuttal and he states that: “I have read the Belfast Agreement and if it comes to any arguments about interpretation of it, with all due respect, I’d sooner take the interpretation the former Taoiseach who helped to write it than somebody who fought tooth and nail to reject it”.

As you may know, the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) was the only major political group in Northern Ireland to oppose the Good Friday Agreement. In recent months, Arlene Foster has also said that the Good Friday Agreement is not sacrosanct.

You can view the whole exchange between Wilson and Grant here.